People often seek to stay hydrated while exercising, commuting, working, hiking, traveling, relaxing, or at other times. To facilitate this process, people may carry around a water bottle.
For example, people may purchase disposable water bottles. Some water sold in disposable bottles is spring water, but it also may be tap water that has been filtered, possibly, for improved shelf life and taste. After consuming the water from the disposable bottle, people often discard the bottle. Accordingly, the next time they wish to consume water, they may purchase another disposable water bottle. Purchasing water in disposable bottles can become expensive for the consumer. Also, commercial water-bottling typically requires expenditures for equipment and the expenditure of energy and other resources to bottle the water, transport the bottles to a retail store, and recycle the often single-use bottles. In addition, when not recycled, single-use bottles contribute to landfill waste. Clearly, there are a number of disadvantages associated with single-use disposable water bottles.
To overcome some of the disadvantages of single-use water bottles, many people have begun utilizing reusable water bottles. However, when the reusable water bottles are filled with ordinary tap water, the disadvantages of ordinary tap water remain. For example, some people do not like the taste of tap water. Also, certain tap water contains contaminants or impurities. Some people may install complex or sizeable water filtering systems in their home or office to permit to pre-filtering the water before pouring it into a reusable bottle. However, if the user does not have access to such a complex or sizeable system, the user may not have access to pre-filtered water.
To facilitate the filtering process, some reusable bottles have been adapted to include a water filter. A common type of water filter includes a filter element positioned at the inlet of the drinking tube such that as the user draws water into the drinking tube, the water is drawn through the filter and into the tube for drinking. Such known water bottle filters may require that the user exert sufficient sucking force to draw the water through the filter. The user may tire this action and possibly drink less water. Also, because the water is not filtered until the user starts drawing the water out, the filtration process may slow the rate at which the water exits the bottle possibly such that the water flow is not continuous, which may frustrate the user.
There is a need for a unitary system and methods for treating and consuming a beverage that does not require the user to draw the water through the filter while drinking. At least certain embodiments of the present invention satisfy this need.